Middle-Earth for Real?
 

Is there any news of a Middle Earth settings being constructed for real (obviously at a smaller scale) as some sort of theme park?

No. Noone would go. It would be nerdy and unpopular.

Not true, frodo1021. I am not saying I would go, but it would be pretty cool if they could pull something like that off, although I doubt there are any plans.

People would be made fun of if they went, because people should not get too into this nerdy stuff.

What is nerdy about it?? This is not Harry Potter!!!

Everything. All you people want to do is speak Elvish.

Think before you post, frodo1021.

Anyway, I think Mansun has a cool idea. It would be such a big undertaking though because it would take so much space, and the amount of funds they would need would be mindblowing...unless we helped them out! ;)

I don't think there'd be any need for that. Provided that someone could get the requisite copyright permissions, I don't think they'd have much trouble selling the idea to investors. It isn't too difficult to find evidence that Middle-earth sells remarkably well.

The real question is whether the whole thing would be a five-minute wonder, declining with the memory of the recent films. I dare say that if the hypothetical park were to stand on its own without a Tolkien theme it would be likely enough to succeed. I certainly wouldn't be surprised to see something like this mooted, although if it hasn't been by now it probably never will.

However, why would anyone need more of a theme park than the Downs?

Damning criticism indeed, coming from someone who spent yesterday evening joining an internet discussion forum to which they didn't want to belong, discussing badly things in which they weren't interested and starting uninteresting threads that garnered no responses. Learning Quenya has rather more point to it, wouldn't you say, O Banned One?

Ouch
Nicely put!

It would be so hard to make one, though, because so much of what we see as Middle earth in the movies is computer generated...

As much as it would thrill me to see some of the places in Middle-earth in reality, I'm not sure what to think about the idea of a Middle-earth theme park. Maybe I'm just thinking too much of a Disneyland-type park with rollercoasters and such. :eek: If it's really just the models, I fear it wouldn't get enough interest to pay off, like Squatter said.

What I could imagine is a Middle-earth section in one of those parks where they have models of all the tourist sights from all over the world. That would be a nice thing indeed, as they usually have very good models and modellers, and with a few ME-experts to tell them how the places really looked (so that they not just copy the movie), why not?

Ringworld (TM)
 

I have exactly the same reservations. I certainly wouldn't want to go to that sort of place, especially if it had a half-baked Tolkien theme slapped onto it. What you've suggested above sounds less frightful and more fun.

It probably wouldn't work as a Tolkein's World theme park, but it certainly could be built to form part of another major theme park (not necessarily Disney Land) to see Middle-Earth brought to life. There could be touches of areas such as Hobbiton, Gandalf & his fireworks, Rivendell, Loth Lorien, the mines of Moria, the Dark Tower etc incorporated into it. Quite a fun day out for the children & tourists, but not so perhaps for the die hard Tolkein Book fans. The main theme behind it would have to be fun - so rollercoasters (e.g. in the mines of Moria etc) would have to be part of it.

Frodo1021 how old are you? Please don't be offended by the question. Would people make fun of you if you told them you post threads on the Barrow Downs too?

I have to quote this again from Frodo1021 & try to decide if it is worth crying with laughter over, or just laughing out loud but not too much :-

The funny thing is, that he regarded 'nerdy' as something negative. ;)


But there are soo many theme parks out there, which is good, so do we really need a Tolkien-related one? For the general public it doesn't matter whether it has a Tolkien touch or not and I'm really not sure if die-hard fans would like it this way. I would rather buy a pint of ale at the Prancing Pony in my fantasy than buy some over-priced merchandise at an existing one.

Unless you can float down a wild river in a barrel! Then I'm in! :)

I was just going to say, the Prancing Pony inn would have to be there too.

Is Mansun really Laylyn in disguise?
 

Hehe Mansun, you're not related in any way to Laylyn on the LOTR Plaza are you? He made the above quote just recently and your quote reminds me so much of the huge discussion that we just had about this subject. We discussed the idea of a theme park, amongst other things. I think it would be awesome to do something like this. I live in New Zealand, and we have the tours of the PJ movie sets still running. But they just aren't the same now that the props are gone. "This is where Bag End used to be. This is where Orthanc used to be. Blah blah blah. Someone should recreate it, I think. I'd love to go along and visit, but I don't think I could handle Laylyn's idea of moving in and living there permanently though :D

I think something more low-keyed than Disney would be fun. Something along the lines of a roadside attraction or Rennosantce Fair (Obviously it's same time frame). I like the Moria roller coaster and Long Lake barrel ride ideas.
Wasn't it at the premier of FOTR when things were set up for the rich and famous to tour? I remember that the Prancing Pony was setup from a hobbit's point of view, I would've liked that.

The answer is no - I am the one & only Mansun!

The one big problem that a Tolkien theme park would face is that of legal rights. While travelling, I just recently visited the one and only movie site that still shows remnants of structures - "Hobbiton" in Matamata, New Zealand. The only reason it wasn't completely cleared away like the other filming sites was because bad weather stopped the deconstruction. When people started coming to see it, the farmer on whose land it is located went through a lengthy process to get permission to keep the hobbit holes as they were - stripped down to the basic structure, but with round door and window openings still visible. Above all, the magnificent Party Tree still stands, and seeing it was worth the admission price!

The guide told us that interest in seeing the location has grown rather than diminished within the past couple of years since the site has opened. Whether the same thing would apply to a theme park is hard to predict. I think it would be fun to collect specific ideas for speculating and dreaming about the kind of park you'd want to see made, if New Line and the Tolkien Estate gave their permission.

What kind of rides would you want to have? (Macalaure's suggestion of a barrel ride on a river is a great idea!) Would there be a song-and-dance show featuring Hobbit songs and the Springle-Ring?

I think a rope climbing wall to simulate the Dwarves' climb up the Lonely Mountain in The Hobbit could be done. Bungy-jumping with Elven rope that looses itself, however, sounds like a bad idea! ;)


[Moderator's note: Since the person who posted nonsense on this thread has been banned, there is no need to respond to his comments. I have not deleted his posts for the simple reason that other responding posts would lose their context if I did so.]

Ooh...ooh! A log flume ride for the Falls! Wheeeee!!!!!!!!!

And Smaug should be a roller coaster.

The "Main Street" area (you know, at the entrance, with few to no rides, but a lot of shops and restaurants and a couple shows) should be the Shire, centered around the Party Tree. There should be crafts demonstrations too...a blacksmith, etc...

This made me think "Vegas". The Middle-earth hotel and casino? :p

There would have to be one of those picture things were you stick your head in the hole and you look like someone....say Aragorn and Arwen or Legolas and Gimli.
Also there should be Gandalf's walking around selling sweets and firecrackers.

Esty, that farm was chosen because of the tree. The irony is that prior to being chosen as the film location, the farmer's son was about to chop that tree down. They did add some 'digital leaves' to it though, I believe. Did it look as lush in real life?

I wouldn't hold your breath for the estate to authorise a theme park, as that won't happen until the sun turns black and the stars fall from the sky, but the area around Sarehole in Birmingham is rapidly becoming something of a Tolkien tourist area - a new Stratford on Avon? ;)